Temptation Eyes - The Final Years and Oldies Tours

The Final Years and Oldies Tours

By 1975 Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who had penned the group's 1971 hit "Two Divided By Love" (among others), invited the band to join their Haven label, where they released an eponymous album, The Grass Roots, containing the single "Mamacita", which charted at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up singles sold disappointingly or failed to chart. Their 1976 single "Out In The Open" proved to be their swan song on Haven. Knighton left in 1976 and Alan Deane took over, followed by guitarist Glenn Shulfer in 1977. Rob Grill decided to take a break from performing at the end of 1977 and the 1978 14 Greats album by Gusto Records featured him and Provisor but none of the other former members. This album consisted of 1978 rerecordings of their hits.

In 1977 after Rob Grill ceased touring, drummer Joel Larson, Mark Miller (lead vocals, guitar) and Brian Carlyss (bass, backing vocals) were joined up with Lonnie Price (lead vocals, keyboards) and Randy Ruff (organ, backing vocals) for nonstop touring dates and TV appearances until late November 1978 (Miller would go back out as a fill-in guitarist for two more dates in 1981).

The Grass Roots, still managed and booked by Grill (who owned the group's name), continued touring in 1978 with Larson, joined by new players Scott Hoyt (lead vocals, guitars), David Nagy (lead vocals, bass) and Gene Wall (keyboards). Nagy and Larson left in 1979 and were replaced by a returning Carlyss and Reagan McKinley (drums, percussion). During this period, the group appeared on an HBO television special, "60's Rock Scrapbook", filmed at Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia, California in October 1979, with Grill and Dennis Provisor making special appearances.

In early 1980, Warren Entner and Steve Barri showed interest in recording a new Grass Roots project with Hoyt and the current lineup. After Grill nixed the deal, Casablanca Records was going to release it at as a Scott Hoyt solo album, but the record was shelved after Casablanca was bought out by Polygram.

Rob Grill remained in the music business and launched a solo career in 1979 (assisted on his solo album, Uprooted, by several members of Fleetwood Mac). Grill toured as a solo act in 1979-1980 opening for Fleetwood Mac's Tusk Tour. When interest in bands of the 1960s began to rise again in 1980, Grill (along with Provisor, Shulfer, and new players: bassist Steve Berendt and drummer Luke Meurett) took back The Grass Roots moniker in May 1980 and toured the United States and Japan.

In 1982 The Grass Roots performed an Independence Day concert on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., attracting a large crowd and setting a record for attendance (over half a million people), at that time, for an outdoor concert for a single musical act. However, in April 1983, James G. Watt, President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, banned Independence Day concerts on the Mall by such groups. Watt said that "rock bands" that had performed on the Mall on Independence Day in 1981 and 1982 had encouraged drug use and alcoholism and had attracted "the wrong element", who would mug people and families attending any similar events in the future. During the ensuing uproar, Rob Grill stated that he felt "highly insulted" by Watt's remarks, which he called "nothing but un-American".

The group's 1981 roster included: Grill, Provisor, Shulfer and a returning Coonce, but Grill decided to go forward in early 1982 with a brand new lineup consisting of seasoned session players: Terry Oubre (guitars, backing vocals), Charles Judge (keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals) and Ralph Gilmore (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Another keyboardist, Bob Luna, came in in mid-1982 to sub for Judge on dates when he wasn't available. That same year, the new band released Powers of the Night on MCA. After Powers failed to attract much attention, Grill brought in new players: George Spellman (guitars, backing vocals), Dave Rodgers (keyboards, backing vocals) and Coy Fuller (drums, percussion) in late 1983 and headed over to tour Europe in early 1984. According to Grill, there was also a country single, "St. Somewhere", recorded in Nashville with this same lineup. This single, apparently, was never released.

By late 1984, Grill was back in the US touring with yet another new group of Grass Roots that included: Dusty Hanvey (guitars, backing vocals), Larry Nelson (keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals), and David Page (drums, percussion). Powers would be the last album of new material to be released by the Grass Roots. From this point on, Grill and the group would concentrate on the lucrative "60s nostalgia" circuit, starting with the Happy Together 85 Tour with fellow 1960s groups The Turtles, The Buckinghams and Gary Lewis & the Playboys. In 1986 another package had them appearing with The Monkees, Gary Puckett, and Herman's Hermits. They were joined in this show by bassist Mark Clarke (ex-Uriah Heep and Rainbow) and a horn section, and backed up the Monkees and Gary Puckett during their sets as well. Hanvey and Nelson continued backing the Monkees for their 1987 tour, while the Grass Roots joined Classic Superfest, which also featured Herman's Hermits, Mark Lindsay, and Gene Clark's Byrds. For this tour, Mark Tamorsky handled guitar and Michael Lewis (soon replaced by Robbie Barker) was on keyboards. Terry Danauer was also added on bass at this point. But by October 1987, Hanvey and Nelson were back with Grill, and Joe Dougherty replaced David Page on drums in 1990. Mike Steck came in for Danauer on bass in 1992-1993 before Grill took over bass again.

From hereon, the band was stable, other than the odd sub here or there (former Outsiders singer Sonny Geraci sat in for Grill during the first half of 2002, Scott Sechman subbed for Hanvey in 1998, Chris Merrell filled in for him on various dates 2000-2006, and Hal Ratliff sat in for Nelson when he had other commitments from 2000 on). In early 2008, after Grill's ongoing health troubles, a regular bassist, Mark Dawson, was brought in, who handled lead vocals when Grill was absent. But for the most part, Grill continued to lead the band into the current millennium as The Grass Roots sole owner and continued to make appearances with the band until his death in 2011.

Beginning in 2005, Creed Bratton could be seen as "Creed Bratton", Quality Assurance Officer, in the American NBC television situation comedy The Office. He continues to write songs and has released several solo albums, including Chasin' the Ball, The '80s, Coarsegold, Creed Bratton, and Bounce Back.

In 2006 former manager Marty Angelo published a book entitled Once Life Matters: A New Beginning, which has numerous stories about his life on the road with Rob Grill and The Grass Roots back in the early 1970s.

Former drummer Rick Coonce died of heart failure on February 25, 2011. Rob Grill died on July 11, 2011 in an Orlando, Florida hospital. He had been in a coma since sustaining a head injury several weeks earlier when he fell after suffering a stroke in Lake County, Florida. He was 67. This was the conclusion to over a decade's worth of health troubles for Grill, which included bone disease, leading to several hip replacements and other complications.

During the summers of 2010 and 2011, the Grass Roots had heavy touring schedules throughout the U.S., both on their own and as part of the Happy Together: 25th Anniversary Tour, along with Flo & Eddie of The Turtles, Mark Lindsay, The Buckinghams, and Monkees member Micky Dolenz (2010 only).

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